Scraping Smear Cytology of Nodular Lesions of the Thyroid

Abstract

In this report an examination was made of the cytomorphologic features of scraping smears from nodular lesions of the thyroid. The series comprised fourty-two cases including seventeen cases of papillary adenocarcinoma, one of follicular adenocarcinoma, one of small cell anaplastic carcinoma, two of papillary adenoma, four of follicular adenoma and sixteen of hyperplastic nodule.The cells derived from papillary adenocarcinoma were arranged in epithelial sheets indicative of papillary structures, and the presence of intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusion bodies and many small intranuclear vacuoles was considered to be important diagnostic aids in recognizing this type of carcinoma. No intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusion bodies were seen in the cases of other types of carcinoma, adenoma and hyperplastic nodule except for one case of papillary adenoma. The cytologic differentiation between adenomas and hyperplastic nodules was impossible with smears.